If you do CrossFit, February and March are hectic months for you. The CrossFit Open usually begins during one of these months, kicking off five weeks of unusually intense excitement, anticipation, and determination in the global CrossFit community.

 

For those who have participated in the Open before, you know what to expect: five WODs over five weeks, each designed to test participants’ strength, fitness, endurance, and gymnastic skill. For those who are new to CrossFit, you’re most likely wondering what the actual eff is happening.

 

What’s the Open? Why should I register for it? What’s all the buzz about?

 

The CrossFit Open is like playoffs season for CrossFit athletes. Once the Open begins,

 

everyone has an opportunity to show the world what they’re made of and how far they’ve come since the previous year. The best of the best compete against the up-and-comings, and those who participate in the Open for fun have a chance to see how they stack up against CrossFit Games veterans and hopefuls.

 

Once the insanity of the Open is over, the top men, women, and teams from each region

 

are invited to compete at their respective CrossFit Regionals. Only a handful of men, women and teams from the 17 Regional competitions advance to the CrossFit Games, held in Carson, California.

 

It sounds like organized chaos, and it is. It’s sort of organized, and very chaotic. But the current Open-Regionals-Games system has not always been in place. The CrossFit Games used to be much more of a free-for-all and much less of a spectacle.

 

The CrossFit Games: 2007-The Present

 

The first CrossFit Games was held in 2007 in Aromas, California. Dave Castro, the current Director of the CrossFit Games and a former intern at the original CrossFit box in Santa Cruz, California, hosted the competition at his family ranch.

 

The sport was so small then that anyone who wanted to compete could register and have a go. There were only individual male and female champions at that time. James Fitzgerald and Jolie Gentry won that year, respectively.

 

In 2008, the sport had grown a bit more, and the number of entrants at the CrossFit Games was capped at 300. Competitors registered on a first come, first served basis, but many in the CrossFit community complained that the best athletes missed out on competing because they didn’t register in time.

 

That year, Jason Khalipa, a relatively unknown athlete at the time, won the individual men’s division. Caity Matter won the individual women’s division.

 

In response to the backlash surrounding the 2008 CrossFit Games, individual athletes were required to qualify for the Games at regional competitions in 2009. Teams, however, were still able to compete on a first come, first served basis.

 

Mikko Salo of Finland, another relatively new face in the CrossFit community, won the Games that year in the individual men’s division. Salo’s win reflected the newly-global nature of a sport born in a garage in California. Tanya Wagner won the individual women’s division.

 

In 2010, the Games changed yet again. Competitors were required to compete at Sectionals before qualifying for Regionals and, eventually, the Games. Teams were also required to compete at Regionals, and a Masters division was added as well.

 

That year, the Games moved to its current venue, the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. And for the first time, there was more than CrossFit glory to be won: individual male and female champions were awarded $25,000 each. The sport was growing quickly in both popularity and funding.

 

Graham Holmberg and Kristan Clever won the individual men’s and women’s divisions, respectively.

 

In 2011, CrossFit Headquarters (HQ) did away with Sectionals, and instead introduced an innovative, internet-based competition as its replacement: the Open. Potential Games athletes qualified for Regionals by completing the Open WODs and posting their scores online; the top men, women, and teams in each region were selected to advance to Regionals.

 

2011 also marked the first year that CrossFit partnered with Reebok as its official sponsor. In addition to its partnership with Reebok, CrossFit HQ secured a contract with ESPN, which broadcast three hours of live event coverage online during the Games.

 

Now-famous Rich Froning, Jr. and Annie Thorisdottir won the individual men’s and women’s divisions that year, respectively. Luckily for them, prize money for individual champions had increased to $250,000.

 

The Games were carried out in an almost identical fashion in 2012. Even the former champions returned to the podium that year, as Froning and Thorisdottir won their second consecutive CrossFit Games titles.

 

In 2013, a record number of athletes participated in the CrossFit Open. Two-time champion and Games favourite Thorisdottir was forced to end her season early due to a herniated disc in her spine, and did not finish the Open or compete at the European Regionals. With Thorisdottir out, Great Britain’s Samantha Briggs became the favourite to win.

 

The CrossFit Games was once again held at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. Individual and team competitors from all over the world participated, including three Australian teams, three Australian men, and two Australian women.

 

Last year, competitors were required to complete a wide variety of movements never before seen at the CrossFit Games, including swimming, log carrying, and legless rope climbs.

 

Froning nabbed his third consecutive Games title, and British favourite Samantha Briggs won the individual women’s division.

 

What to Expect in 2014

 

The rapid evolution of the CrossFit Games is a testament not only to the sport’s ever-
increasing popularity, but to the exceptional depth and breadth of talent amongst CrossFit athletes across the globe. And somehow, these athletes gets fitter, faster, and stronger each year.

 

If there’s one thing to be learned from the history of the CrossFit Games, it’s that you must expect the unexpected.

 

Coaches and athletes from around the world have attempted to predict what the Open will demand of competitors this year, but their predictions are educated guesswork at best. CrossFit

 

HQ continues to surprise athletes with new movements, new workouts, and new rules each year.

 

This year, coaches and athletes only know one thing for sure: athletes hoping to compete at Regionals will be required to submit videos of themselves performing each Open workout, which will be analyzed and verified by CrossFit HQ should they qualify for Regionals.

 

This new rule is CrossFit HQ’s response to yet another backlash from the CrossFit community following the 2013 Regionals.

 

Many spectators, participants and coaches present at 2013 Regionals competitions complained that a lot of the athletes who qualified for and competed at Regionals could hardly complete the movements required of them, suggesting that many competitors cheated their way into Regionals.

 

Requiring athletes to submit videos of themselves will not only keep the athletes and their affiliates honest, but will also allow CrossFit HQ to monitor and enforce movement standards.

 

Most importantly, video submissions will ensure that athletes who qualify for and compete at the 2014 CrossFit Regionals deserve to be there. The competition will be more intense for those competing and spectating, which will only set the bar higher for CrossFit competitors in the years to come.

http://games.crossfit.com/article/whats-new-2014

http://breakingmuscle.com/crossfit/brief-history-crossfit-games

http://games.crossfit.com/about-the-games/history

http://www.tabatatimes.com/how-fast-are-the-crossfit-games-growing-the-numbers-tell-the-
story/

http://www.theboxmag.com/crossfit-people/dave-castro-crossfits-games-maker/